Yesterday, Bowe testified in favor of the pipeline before a House subcommittee on Small Business. In his testimony, Bowe said building the Keystone XL Pipeline is all about jobs:

So what does the Keystone pipeline have to do with us, and why do we care? For us, it’s all about jobs, not construction jobs for the pipeline itself, but ongoing jobs every year for decades to come, all related to the production of oil from the Alberta oil sands deposits…

One way or the other, Canadians will eventually solve their distribution problems, with or without US governmental collaboration. To the extent this process is delayed, the producers will suffer economic loss, and their US suppliers, like Ellicott Dredges will suffer as well…including diminished employment.

Apparently the jobs created by the Keystone XL Pipeline are not high priority for President Obama’s agenda as he has punted on making a decision to approve or deny the project until late this year or early 2014.

Bowe urged approval of Keystone as soon as possible:

We urge you to approve the Keystone pipeline as expeditiously as possible. We should rely on the proposition that the Canadians are fully capable of acting as custodians of their own environment, and that Canadian oil is not only environmentally superior to that from say Venezuela, but certainly more secure politically compared to or other existing options.

I think in terms of how to persuade the administration, for the foreseeable future the transportation industry in this country needs liquid petroleum products of one form or another. They can’t be displaced. They won’t be displaced. And that cost factors into everything that we consume whether you drive a car or not. If you consume any product, there’s transportation costs built into that. So I think we need to acknowledge – call it a ‘dependence’ on liquid fuels and say that’s not necessarily a bad thing. Energy is big part of our economy and our lifestyle.

Last year Bowe was a signatory to a letter to President Obama from the National Association of Manufacturers, which stated:

Dear Mr. President: The undersigned businesses and organizations, which together represent virtually every sector of the entire U.S. economy, share your continued goal of creating jobs and boosting the economy through manufacturing. However, there remains a piece of unfinished business that would harness the power of manufacturing to create jobs: final approval of the Keystone XL Pipeline. As you and the Congress look to spur the economy and put people to work, there can be no stronger sign of a commitment to economic growth than approving Keystone XL.

Mark Newgent is a contributing editor to Red Maryland, the premiere blog of conservative politics in the Free State, voted one of the best state political blogs by the Washington Post two years in a row. His writing has appeared in the Baltimore Sun, Washington Examiner, National Review Online, and more. Twitter: @MarkNewgent